Our Team

Kathleen Ann Sabo, Executive Director

Kathleen received her B.A. from Fordham University in New York City, and her J.D. from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. A Connecticut native, Kathleen moved to New Mexico in 1991 and is a member of the New Mexico Bar. Concentrating chiefly on legislative matters, she provided legislative analysis to the New Mexico State Senate Judiciary Committee (Sen. Michael Sanchez, Chair) and New Mexico Legislative Reports, and served as the Head Majority Analyst for the New Mexico State Senate. Kathleen has been a long-time consultant to the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), performing legislative analysis and undertaking numerous special projects, including representing the AOC on a legislative task force and steering committee (2015’s SJM 4). She has also consulted with New Mexico’s Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) and Tourism Department. Kathleen served for many years as the host and producer of Albuquerque’s KUNM Public Radio’s weekly public affairs program, The KUNM Call-In Show – garnering a 2015 First Place Top of the Rockies award from the Society of Professional Journalists for General Broadcast Excellence, along with the broadcast team – as host and producer of public affairs and cultural special programs and election coverage on KUNM, and as an independent radio host and producer. She also served as the Executive Director of Santa Fe’s Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, and has consulted with numerous entities on business, media, music and recording projects as the principal of Voice and Verse. She has taught as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico. Kathleen is an award-winning singer/songwriter and composer, and a writer of poetry and prose. She is a mother of two who is an avid sports and exercise participant and coach, gardener, ocean and animal lover, and frequent and intrepid traveler throughout the U.S. and beyond.

Lucy River, Director of Policy & Communications

Lucy is the former Program Director of Leadership Santa Fe–a civics program located at the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce–where she also provided marketing and communications services. As owner of a consulting practice, for which she became a 2015 Santa Fe Business Woman of the Year Nominee, she has been involved in government affairs since 2013, primarily with JD Bullington Government Relations. Her interest in policy, law, and the penal system began prior to that when she worked as a city Police Officer, and later as the Policy & Legislative Outreach Director for the New Mexico Corrections Department. Having seen the inner-workings of government at a local and state level first-hand, accountability in government has become a driving factor in her life and career-path. Lucy is a law student at the UNM Law School, has a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice from New Mexico Highlands University, and a diploma in Speech & Drama from the DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama in Ireland, where she was born and raised. Lucy is a published poet and author, a blue belt in jiu jitsu, and mother to an eight-year old girl.

Heather Tanner, Director of Advancement

Heather Tanner joined New Mexico Ethics Watch in 2017 to engage stakeholders and supporters in partnerships that create meaningful change in New Mexico. She is the former Director of Advancement for the International Folk Art Alliance, where she worked with public and private partners to support a global network of artist entrepreneurs creating social change through the preservation and celebration of their cultural heritage. Her nonprofit experience includes a variety of fundraising and direct service roles at Youth Shelters and Family Services, a nonprofit serving homeless youth in Northern New Mexico. Heather is a graduate of the University of Washington, with a Bachelor’s degree in Art and the Global Community, an interdisciplinary degree focused on the intersection between the arts and social change. Heather is currently studying law at the University of New Mexico, plays music in her band The Bus Tapes, and volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Our Board Of Directors

Justice Richard C. Bosson (retired), Chair

Justice Bosson was a member of the New Mexico Supreme Court from 2002 to 2015. He was a member of the New Mexico Court of Appeals from 1994 to 2002. He served on the New Mexico Constitutional Revision Commission in 1994-95. Justice Bosson earned his law degree in 1969 from the Georgetown University Law Center after earning his undergraduate degree in 1966 from Wesleyan University. In 1998, after he already was on the high court, Justice Bosson received a master’s degree in judicial process from the University of Virginia School of Law. Justice Bosson was a founding member of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund in Albuquerque from 1970 to 1974 and was a member of the Legal Aid Society of Albuquerque. He lived in Colombia in 1975 as a recipient of a Latin American Teaching Fellowship sponsored by the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and associated with the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. In 1976, he went to work in the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office. During his time there, Justice Bosson worked in the Consumer Protection Division and was Civil Division director. He started a private practice as a senior partner of Bosson & Canepa in Santa Fe in 1981, practicing there until 1994. During that time, he was bond counsel for the State Board of Finance and the city of Santa Fe.

Philip B. Davis, Secretary

Mr. Davis is a 1978 graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law. In private practice in Albuquerque since 1981, he represents mostly plaintiffs in civil rights litigation, including police misconduct, employment, first amendment, whistleblower and discrimination cases. Mr. Davis serves as a mediator and an arbitrator in a wide array of civil rights, personal injury and employment cases. Mr. Davis has an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Civil Rights Law, Employment Law and First Amendment Litigation for many years. He was named Best Lawyers’ 2016 New Mexico Lawyer of the Year in the area of First Amendment Litigation.

Daniel Yohalem

Mr. Yohalem has been an attorney for over 42 years, the last 29 of which have been in New Mexico. He received his B.A. in 1970 from Yale University and a J.D. with honors in 1973 from Columbia University Law School. He is currently in private practice, focusing on first amendment, civil rights, open government, employment, and class action cases for plaintiffs, particularly in the areas of equal pay for women, whistleblower, discrimination, and retaliation claims. Mr. Yohalem has been awarded the William S. Dixon First Amendment Freedom Award (2006) as Lawyer of the Year by the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, and the Cooperating Attorney of the Year (2002) by the ACLU of New Mexico. He has consistently been listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Superlawyers of the Southwest. He has served on the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government Board since 1998 and was President from 2002-2003. He is a founding Board member of the Santa Fe Neighborhood Law Center and New Mexico Ethics Watch and serves on the Board of the Santa Fe Community Homeless Shelter.

Joleen K. Youngers

Ms. Youngers has practiced as a trial lawyer since 1992 with the law firm of Almanzar & Youngers, P.A., in Santa Fe and Las Cruces. Ms. Youngers’ practice primarily involves representing plaintiffs in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits. She also represents persons whose civil rights have been violated, persons who are retaliated against after reporting wrongdoing by government officials and agencies, as well as victims of police misconduct, sexual abuse, discrimination and harassment. While she primarily represents plaintiffs, she also represents employers to defend and prevent employment and civil rights claims. In addition to her litigation practice, Ms. Youngers works as a mediator to help parties settle their disputes prior to trial. She also serves as a guardian ad litem for children and incompetent persons in personal injury and civil rights litigation. While Ms. Youngers spends most of her time litigating, she also frequently engages in teaching trial advocacy and Continuing Legal Education courses for trial lawyers and criminal defense lawyers. Several times a year, Ms. Youngers leaves her busy litigation practice to teach trial practice and deposition skills classes for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

Alfred L. Green, Jr.

Mr. Green is a native New Mexican who graduated with a B.A. from the University of New Mexico in 1969; a Master of Business from the University of Arkansas, 1972; and is a 1976 graduate of the UNM School of Law. Since 1980, he has been in private practice in Albuquerque with the firm of Butt Thornton & Baehr, primarily representing defendants in product liability; professional negligence; complex litigation and more recently rural electric cooperatives. Mr. Green has an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been listed in The Best Lawyers of America and Southwest Super Lawyers in the area of product liability defense and mass tort litigation. He has taught numerous continuing legal education seminars and was an adjunct professor at the UNM School of Law. He was the 2008 New Mexico Defense Lawyer Association Defense Lawyer of the Year. He also served 11 years active duty in the United States Air Force and 12 years reserve with the United States Air Force.